Mushohwe berates private media

The private media in Zimbabwe has been indicted for continuing to abet the West's regime change agenda and Government is doing all it can to ensure that the media follow professional ethics.

Addressing the 3rd Forum on China-Africa Media Cooperation here yesterday, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe said the West's regime change agenda in Zimbabwe had polarised the society on political lines.

The forum was jointly hosted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China and the African Union of Broadcasting.

"Our media mirrors that polarisation (on political lines) even today as most of the privately owned media continues to aid the West's regime change agenda in the country," said Dr Mushohwe.

"However, as Government we are sparing no efforts to depolarise our media by getting it to focus on professional journalistic ethics and media reporting standards.

"We want our media to focus on common national goals and interests in order to drive the national agenda of developing our country and improving the welfare of the ordinary Zimbabwean citizen."

Dr Mushohwe said there was need for China and Africa to work closely together in fighting Western imperialism as evidenced through such countries' mass media outlets.

He said elimination of dependence on Western global media organisations for news, broadcasting content and sources of information should be addressed through increased cooperation between Chinese and African media.

"Our people are bombarded with negative and misleading messages about ourselves and our governments, particularly against those governments they wish to remove through television programmes, newspapers and imported Western films," said Dr Mushohwe.

"China is a victim of Western media propaganda as most African states are, particularly against those regimes viewed as threats to American and Western interests which they seek to remove.

"Therefore, efforts to strengthen our media institutions to challenge Western media propaganda against us should be applauded. We want to tell our own story to the rest of the world through our own eyes and not through the Western media."

Dr Mushohwe said it was unfortunate that media cooperation between Africa and China was not as robust as the economic ties in areas such as energy, mining, infrastructure, modern agriculture, manufacturing, ICTs and tourism.

He said media organisations should pool resources to support permanent presence of African media outlets and newsrooms in China.

"The presence of Chinese media organisations in Africa has to a large extent made a significant contribution in changing the perception of Chinese people about Africa and its people," he said.

"Likewise, we should begin to see increased African media presence in China so that they tell the Chinese story to the African people.

"Such a development would help African communities better understand Chinese culture and the work ethics of the Chinese African enterprises that are increasingly establishing and operating on the African continent."

The forum was attended by at least 350 representatives in the media industry and government ministers from both China and 44 African countries.

Dr Mushohwe hailed China for providing the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation with state-of-the-art outside broadcasting vans and helping deliver the Digital Terrestrial Television migration project.

He said Zimbabwe was emerging from unrelenting onslaught by Western media that lasted almost 15 years since the launch of the land reform programme designed to correct colonial injustices.

"Our country was placed under an illegal sanctions regime that sequestrated the country from international markets, resulting in the wilting down of the economy," said Dr Mushohwe.

The forum was attended by at least 350 representatives in the media industry and government ministers from both China and 44 African countries.